Disclaimer: I do not own any of Mr. Riordan works..if I did, they would not be this good...
Thalia was swearing her luck, the hunters have been cornered by at least two dozens of monster encircling them. "Damn it all! What in Hades are those things?!" was the question she was desperately trying to ignore so she could focus on holding her fading consciousness. She was dead tired, her tattered clothes exposing several bruised and scratched skin all over her arms, legs, lower back and almost all of her right breast. With her were only left three barely standing on the verge of collapsing while the rest of the Hunt was being held captive by another dozen of those tree-looking creatures.
"Next time I see Juniper I gonna thank her for being a lovely and harmless dryad" this jest cheered as helped keeping her awake while trying to find a way out this ambush. Eight feet tall walking trees with distorted face and pitch black eyes sockets showing nothing more than a sadistic and mad rage. The teens braced themselves as a new charge was prepared by the enemies…and they charged, rapidly closing to their preys. Thalia tasted the bitterness of fear and death as her hopes faded as closer the monsters got.
Thirty…twenty…ten feet, approaching carefully as a predator would with an injured yet fierce prey. Thalia couldn`t help but shed a tear, it was the second time she faced an army with no chance of victory and even being one the toughest demigods how could she beat an emotion, especially when this time she wouldn`t be able to protect anyone.
A loud and deep sound broke the trance of dread of the Hunt, also startling the monsters…again it sounded, definitely a horn, one never heard before. A third time followed by a high howl spread terror and chaos through the enemies lines, dropping all captives and turning for a desperate retreat without first analyzing their surroundings.
A massive white wolf as big as an adult hellhound jumped from the woods, surprising the monsters and started wracking havoc with arcs of lightning sparking from its mouth after each bite. Monster felt shattered and burnt at a speed only surpassed by the vaporizing powers of the gods and in a couple of minutes only six remained from the almost forty creatures. Six terrified trees behind Thalia and her hunters blankly staring the white wolf as it stopped near the unconscious girls standing guard there. "OK…a somewhat friendly, truck-sized and divine-powered wolf did in seconds what over thirty hunters couldn`t do in half hour" Thalia thought "and now is standing like a watch dog…odd….but I`m not complaining".
Thalia then hobbled to their friends side, but she wouldn`t make it if not for the pair of hands dropping a warm cape over her shoulders and sustaining her with a firm yet gentle grip of long and thin fingers. Her vision was starting to blur as the mysterious figured help her sit near her friends, embracing her when her strength left her and welcoming the cold for the metallic plates of the armor.
Turning to the last monster, the unknown raised the right arm and spoke some incomprehensible words, "a male voice" Thalia thought although she was in no position to protest. A thick mist appeared around the monsters freezing them to the point where they would simply turn into snowflakes with the wind.
Thalia's last memories of that night before her consciousness completely faded were the bright, ice blue eyes with a reassuring look and a deep, soft voice "Rest, you are safe now".